Claire Williams: "At one point, public opinion turned against me"

The Williams team has been around for decades in Formula 1, and as such has achieved historic status. The team went through several successful periods, but its performance deteriorated rapidly since Claire Williams took the reins.

In recent years, Williams has therefore invariably been the last team on the grid. The low point came last year: After the team had been experiencing financial problems for some time, the family business was sold to investment company Dorilton Capital.

A lot of criticism of Claire Williams

For this, Claire Williams had to endure a lot of criticism. Something she herself thinks is justified, at least to a certain extent.

"We got a lot of support, even when things were down, but at one point public opinion did turn a little against me," Williams says in The Spectator's Women With Balls podcast.

She continues: "That was justified. I was the leader, and ultimately I'm responsible. But you make decisions that you think are the right ones at the time. Then sometimes things don't go the way you want."

Also success with Williams

"I got a lot of criticism for that, especially on social media. But I couldn't listen to that noise. If I had spent energy on that it would have only been negative," Williams continues.

In addition, she feels that people forget that things went well for a period of time as well. "The last three years were very difficult, but there were extenuating circumstances. People forget that the team finished eighth and ninth in the years before I took charge. Within a year we were third in the standings, and we managed that two years in a row. Then we finished fifth twice, not bad for a team that was always known as the 'underdog.'"